I have not only FMA but also Rheumatoid Arthritis. My RA put me on a low dose of prednisone once a day (10 mg) along with a few other medications. The prednisone seems to have worked wonders for me.

Now I'm not sure if it's helping more my RA than my FMA, but I can't believe the difference I've felt. I feel almost human again.

If this has helped anyone else as drastically I'd really like to let people know about it. My RA said it is used more in Sweden, and over seas than in the states. We always seem far behind in the medical times.

Hi hdrider - I just put a post on the general discussion about treatment with antivirals -- I copied info from the U of MD Med Center about treating encephalitis (which I think may be linked with fibro fog and CFS) and they use steroids along with antivirals.

I realized that there were times in the past I have taken Prednisone - for severe allergic reactions - and it made my thinking clearer and gave me tons of energy (too much, I couldn't sleep). Yes, I felt better when I took it in some ways - but the side effects got to me.

It's interesting that you would find some help for your fibro with Prednisone. I believe this mainly treats inflammation. But I suggest you google it and research the side effects. Every drug has to be measured as to risk versus reward -- but Prednisone, especially long term, can have some very nasty side effects. One is osteoporosis.

Nevertheless, glad to hear it is helping you so much. Chronic pain is miserable, and sometimes it's worth anything to get some relief!

The Prednisone is actually for my Rheumatoid Arthritis more than for the Fibro. RA is swelling in the joints, so that is why it works well for me. However, my doctor told me that a large number of patients with fibro also have RA or some other issue attached to it.

The Prednisone is only 10 mg once a day. At that low dose the side effects are very minimal. That being said I should also mention my doctor has been on a 10 mg dose of Prednisone for 45 years and is as healthy as a horse.

Now, I'm not saying some people won't have side effects, I'm just saying that it helps me and may help other people as well and might be something for some people to look into.

I agree you have to weigh the positive and negative effects - I do that with the pain meds I take. I'm on a rather large dose of pain meds - but I can still work and can still function. That is more important to me... So I know where you are coming from.

This is the first doctor that has been able to help me, in almost any way, so I'm very pleased with my results.

Thanks for the info, I just thought I'd let you know a little more clearly where I was coming from.

Hi again - I hope I didn't come across as critical, that wasn't my intent. I had such a bad time with drug side effects, I am on my own crusade to warn people to double check side effects and interactions -- I had a rough time with some common prescriptions, and the doctors never realized it was the drugs causing the problems. That being said, I'm glad you are doing well on this drug. One thing we all learn on this website is that everyone's chemistry is different! What works well for some does not work for others.

And yes, I think a lot of people who post here also have trouble with RA so I'm sure your post will help someone.

Do you still feel like you have fibromyalgia? Or are those symptoms gone? I went gluten free, and it had a huge effect and improved my pain level a lot! Sometimes I think people get diagnosed with fibromyalgia when something else (for example, RA) is really the problem…. Anyway, I'm very glad you found something that helps you.

Nope, you didn't come across "critical" at all and I appreciate your input. I just thought I'd clarify a little more, after re reading my post I realized I hadn't given as much clear information as I thought I had.

I know what you mean about side effects, I had bad side effects on Lyrica. I was on it for about 6 months. Yeah the weight gain sucked, but besides that my hubby said I just was not myself. My speech seemed to slow down, I didn't move as quickly, I seemed almost "drunk" all the time. It was starting to scare him. It was one of the reasons 'we' decided to go off of it.

Unfortunately I do still feel like I have fibro. The RA is much better, but that also seemed to have come later. I've had fibro for about 8 years, the RA seems to have become noticeable within the last year or two. My hands hurt all the time (I make jewelry so that's not a good thing when it comes to my side income) I have had a lot of trouble doing that. My feet hurt so bad in the morning I could hardly stand on them and my knees, oh my knees. I twisted my knee and heard a pop, we were concerned about an ACL or MCL tear so they did x-rays, luckily no tear but it showed degeneration, my Rheumatologist said that is also RA.

However I still have the every day, feel like I have the flu, hurt all over pain. And right now it's in my upper torso. Neck/back/arms/shoulders. That's the worst. But it moves (as I'm sure you know) some days it's my legs, my hips. UGH. You never know where you are going to hurt when you wake up. Some days I lay in bed going... if I just don't move... if I stay right here, in this position I won't hurt... but then I have to go to work. I still work 50 hours a week. I bring home half our income (I have a very good job) and I just don't want to quit. Even with it taking it's toll on me. Maybe I'm being stubborn.

Anyway, my mom and dad are moving and they needed help painting last night, the entire house needs painted before they move in in 3 weeks. My mom is recovering from Stage 3 lung cancer (she's in remission - cancer free for 11 months - but still having a lot of side effects from the chemo and radiation - as well as mental side effects of cancer)so they needed help. We have a close immediate family and pitch in to help all we can. Well my hubby and I decided to go help paint last night. We were there for about 4 hours, I was doing trim the entire time. Oh my Goddess, my hands hurt so badly I can hardly type this morning. But I knew last night that I'd pay for it. However... hey you do what you have to do right?

Anyway, I hope you are doing well and thanks again for your input, it was very appreciated.

Hi Rider - I saw Brenda Watson last night on PBS - she does specials about keeping your gut healthy, and I've seen a few of her lectures. But this one I hadn't seen, and I just caught a bit… I thought of you, because she talked about being diagnosed with RA in her hands, which had become very painful. She got pro-active and researched, and decided to quit gluten. That cleared up her RA.

Wanted to mention this to you. Going gluten-free is a bit of a pain at first, but once you have the hang of it (and get over your withdrawal from bread!) it's really an OK diet. (You can have rice bread, tapioca bread and potato starch bread.) If interested, there's a lot on here about it, you can plug in celiac or gluten in the blue search box at the top right. When I had been gluten free for a year, I had no more of that every day flu-like aching all over feeling. It helped me a LOT! Improved my immune system too.

So sorry to hear of all the family stress on you right now. That aggravates pain, I know. You're lucky to have some family that pitches in to help.

Got anything special planned for Samhain?? My favorite holiday!

PS. I am assuming you're new…? I don't remember seeing you here before - so if you are, welcome. Maybe you're an old member who is returning though…. ??

Before my FMS diagnosis, when my GP was trying everything, I did the Prednisone thing - and I did find that it helped quite a bit. I have FMS and Osteo-Arthritis and Inflammatory Arthritis, so it is quite possible that it was simply helping the Arthritis and not the FMS, but I did feel better with more energy and less pain for the four weeks or so we tried the Pred. Most doctors in the mid-Atlantic area, however, don't like to use Pred on a long-term basis due to the many possible side effects. I guess it is a trade-off, like nearly every other treatment option.